Jakarta – The British embassy in Indonesia is very concerned over complaints that police have mistreated a British woman detained since last week in restive Aceh province, a diplomat said on Wednesday.

An embassy spokesman said they were particularly worried over Lesley McCulloch's allegations of abuse while in custody and also the way the 40-year-old Scottish academic and American nurse Joy Lee Sadler had been denied outside contact for so long.

Police detained the two women and their Indonesian translator last Wednesday after finding them in possession of information on separatist rebels, who have been fighting in Aceh for decades.

"We are very concerned about the complaints made by Lesley McCulloch that she was allegedly mistreated," said the spokeswoman, adding the embassy was also "very unhappy" it took so long to gain access to McCulloch.

Looking exhausted, the two women met diplomatic representatives for the first time on Tuesday as they were flown to the provincial capital of Banda Aceh for further questioning.

Police later said they might face up to five years in jail for immigration offences, as they had entered Indonesia on tourist visas but were found with a digital camera, and other information on the Free Aceh Movement rebels.

'Abused by army'

McCulloch, from Dunoon in Scotland, is a lecturer at the University of Tasmania in Australia who often writes about Aceh.

Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday McCulloch had slipped a distress note to its correspondent, who was travelling on the same plane as the three women.

"Held seven nights, denied right of contact with embassy, abused by army, knife held at my throat ... sleep deprivation, denied medical assistance, intimidation, sexual harassment," the paper quoted the note as saying.

A police spokesman contacted by Reuters denied all allegations of abuse, but said troops had a right to act forcefully because the remote province of Aceh is a war zone.

"They were taken by soldiers and it should be understood that troops in a danger zone will take special measures. The suspects refused to open their bags and the soldiers pointed their weapons at them," Taufik Sugiyono said by phone from Banda Aceh, some 1,700 km northwest of Jakarta.

"There was no sexual harassment and [mistreatment allegations] are all not true. The suspects' access to their [diplomats] and all of their other rights have been fully given."

The Indonesian translator was believed to have been released on Tuesday, but Sugiyono has said because the foreigners are now suspected of visa irregularities they can be questioned until at least the middle of next month. Several rounds of peace talks have failed to halt the Aceh conflict, which killed about 2,000 people last year alone.